Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Favourite Book Bloggers

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Here are a few of my favourite book bloggers.

I have not always done a very good job of visiting some of their blogs these past couple of years due to some tough personal stuff I’ve been dealing with, but they’re still all great people to follow.

If such things were possible, I’d love to get all of these folks together for a big group dinner as I think some new friendships could possibly spark from that evening.

A green stack of paper is lying on a white table next to a fountain pen. In front of the pen and paper are four white cubes that have the word blog spelled on them with one letter on each cube. Berthold Gambrel.

He reviews a ton of indie authors and sometimes filmmakers from a variety of genres. He’s also a genuinely kind and friendly guy who I originally met on Twitter back before it imploded!

Mock Ramblings

Another old Internet friend of mine. We met in the comment section of Bruce Gerencser’s blog, and I’ve learned so much about D&D and various books from his posts over the years. Sometimes he’ll share funny stories about his family, too.

Nerdy Reader Girl 

A bookish friend I’ve known for years. She has the best sense of humour ever, and I live vicariously through the funny stories she sometimes shares about her cats.

Leah’s Books

Leah is someone I originally met through Top Ten Tuesday. She’s been a little quiet online lately, so I’m hoping all is well with her. I love the fact that she jumps around to various genres just like I do and that she’s normally so chatty if you strike up a conversation with her!

Dini Panda Reads

Dini is another wonderful person I met through TTT. Her blog has such an interesting assortment of books on it that I always check out what she’s reading if I don’t know what to read next. I also appreciate her sweet and gentle personality. She’s lovely.

Lark at The Bookwyrm’s Hoard 

Her Sunday posts are always so interesting! Lark’s willingness to stick up for others (e.g. immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community) is also something I admire about her.

Nicole at Bookwyrm Knits

This is the part where I admit that I thought Lark and Nicole were the same person for an embarrassingly long time due to how similar their blog titles are. They are both free to tease me endlessly about that if or when they read this post.

Nicole shares so many interesting knitting projects on her blog when she isn’t talking about books. One of these days I will try knitting myself, and it will be thanks to her. 🙂 She’s so talented.

Sometimes Leelynn Reads 

Leelynn hasn’t posted in a while, but back when she did I loved being exposed to books on her blog I probably wouldn’t have otherwise known about. (She likes romance more than I do, after all!) Her friendly personality was another thing that drew her to me as well. She gets along well with everyone from what I’ve observed which is quite admirable.

 

Apologies if I missed anyone I regularly interact with! It was not done intentionally. There are so many incredible bloggers out there that I love getting to know.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Buzzwords or Phrases That Make Me Want to Read a Book

The text reads, “Top Ten Tuesday. www.thatartsyreadergirl.com.”
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

1. Prehistoric, Neanderthal, Hunter-Gatherer, and/or Anatomically-Modern Human

I’m always interested in books set at this point in the past.

2. Magical Realism

There’s nothing like a story that is 99% realistic but has a slightly magical twist to it.

Grey stones in a stone garden. The stone closest to the viewer has the word “hope etched onto it. The stone right behind it has the world “charity” etched onto it. 3. HEA (happily ever after)

It’s not that common in the scary stuff I sometimes read, so I have to branch out to other genres to see characters who ride off into the sunset peacefully.

4. Friends to Lovers 

This is how my spouse and I ended up together. When I do dip into more romantic reads on occasion, starting off with a strong friendship between the characters is definitely the first thing I’m looking for.

5. Twist Ending

If the right amount of foreshadowing is included ahead of time, I love it when there’s a twist ending that catches me off-guard but, in retrospect, makes perfect sense. It’s quite difficult to accomplish, so I never fault authors who can’t quite strike the balance between hinting at what’s to come and still keeping their audience guessing. It’s simply a fun bonus when it does occur.

6. Solarpunk, Hopepunk, and/or Utopian Themes

Show me visions of the future that are remarkably better than the world we currently live in!

7. Animal Companions 

Assuming the pets don’t die or get seriously injured in the story, I love reading about characters who have close relationships with their furry (or scaly, aquatic, or what have you) friends.

8. Urban settings 

I love living in an urban setting as well as reading all sorts of stories with this sort of setting.

9. Medical triumphs 

That is to say, there’s nothing like reading a book about a condition or illness that we now either prevent with better nutrition, clean water, vaccines, municipal sanitation, etc. or have such effective treatments for that the average person may not realize how dangerous or painful it was for previous generations. It’s exhilarating to read about all of the progress we’ve made.

10. Mutual Aid

That is, stories about people working together to solve seemingly insurmountable problems. It’s easy for this topic to come across as an cheesy after school special, but when care is taken in fleshing out the characters and exploring the conflict(s) they face in depth, the hopefully happy ending that eventually comes can be immensely satisfying.

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A Review of Refuge

Book cover for Refuge
 by N.A. Ratnayake. Image on cover is a drawing of a pink cloud that looks like a humanoid face. It is in the dark blue sky and peering down at a green humanoid face floating in an ocean. The green face has a pink flower in its mouth. Title: Refuge

Author: N.A. Ratnayake

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 29, 2025

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 6 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

A weary traveler coming from Earth discovers a new form of consciousness on an alien world and finds hope despite climate change.

Content Warning: Brief references to climate change.

Review:

A better world is possible.

I review a lot of short stories, and this particular tale is an excellent example of why a few pages can be more than enough space to make a difference. The author placed memorable characters into a challenging environment and threw in a thought-provoking plot twist into less space that most storytellers would use to write the opening chapter of a full-length novel. Pulling this off is a skill that should be acknowledged and celebrated, and it has only deepened my resolve to see what else this author has written and hopefully review it in the near future.

Climate change is a common theme in this genre, of course, but it’s generally not approached from such a hopeful perspective. While I can’t go into much detail about how it affected the plot without sharing spoilers, I can say that I loved what this writer did to make this topic feel fresh again and I would have happily read a whole novel or series of short stories about this protagonist’s quest if such things existed. There were some interesting ideas being played around with here that, while they worked perfectly well as gentle nudges, would have also provided plenty of material for conflict and plot advancement had space allowed for deeper explorations of these possibilities.

Xenofiction is something that isn’t covered in modern science fiction as often as I’d prefer to see, so I looked forward to finding out what the non-human intelligence was like and how its thought processes might differ from the way you or I would approach the same conflict or conversation. Exactly who or what is featured here is something that other readers should discover for themselves, but what I can say is that this character was creatively written and genuinely felt like something that, while incredibly smart, had never been and will never be human.

Refuge was the perfect introduction to this universe, and it made me yearn for more.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Genres I Want to Read More of This Year

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Simple black sketch of how protons and electrons move around an atom. There appears to be three protons or neutrons in total, but it doesn’t give more information than that. This year I’m hoping to read more nonfiction about medical and scientific advances.

I’m keeping the specific sub-genre open. Biology is interesting, and so is palaeontology, archeology, chemistry, astronomy, and a wide variety of other subjects. I will even read about math so long as you’re not actually expecting me to solve any equations. Ha!

The important thing to me is that they’re taking abut positive developments because I need more good news in my life.

A book about the invention of the atom bomb or how many airborne diseases spread so quickly in the winter, as interesting as they may be, isn’t quite what I’m looking for.

Something that talks about promising treatments, preventions, or cures for life-threatening illnesses, or what scientists are discovering about distant solar systems,  or new species of plants or animals we’re discovering in remote corners of the Earth would be right up my alley.

If you’ve read something along these lines, I’d love to hear about it.

In the meantime, I’ll be scouring the Internet and my local library for hopeful scientific and medical news.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Spring 2026 To-Read List

The text reads, “Top Ten Tuesday. www.thatartsyreadergirl.com.”
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A few of these books have already been released. As usual, I’m including publication dates for the rest of them.

I have two Top Ten Tuesday bloggers to thank for blogging about a couple of these titles earlier, so keep an eye out for those mentions.

 

Book cover for Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer. Image on cover is a photo of Judy Blume with short curly hair and in a black turtleneck sweater. She’s smiling faintly and looking off to her left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer

Why I’m Interested: I adored her books when I was in elementary and middle school but know nothing about her personal life.

 

Book cover for Poisonous People: How to Resist Them and Improve Your Life by Leanne ten Brinke. Image on cover shows a neon green background and what appears to be a black puddle of something possibly poisonous off to the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Poisonous People: How to Resist Them and Improve Your Life by Leanne ten Brinke

Why I’m Interested: Hopefully it will have some excellent advice for identifying and neutralizing troublemakers in any community.

 

Book cover for Phases: a Memoir by Brandy Norwood. Image on cover is a close-up photo of her face as she wears a blue silk garment and gazes thoughtfully off into the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Phases: A Memoir by Brandy

Publication Date: March 31

Why I’m Interested: This is at least the third time I’ve blogged about this memoir while waiting for its release due to how excited I am for it. One more week to go before I hopefully get to learn more about my favourite singer’s life behind the scenes. In the meantime, I’m trying to get on my library’s waitlist for it as soon as I possibly can today as they generally open it up for requests a week before a book is published. Wish me luck!

 

Book cover for What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed. Image on cover shows a drawing of a white flower with thin yellow petals forming a ring around the thick white petals. This image is half covering a black circular object that I can’t identify. It looks like a black moon hanging in a blue sky, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

Publication Date: April 7

Why I’m Interested: Science fiction set on other planets often grabs my interest.

 

Book cover for American Fantasy by Emma Straub. Image on cover shows a drawing of a white cruise ship sailing on the ocean on a mostly cloudless day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.  American Fantasy by Emma Straub

Publication Date: April 7

Why I’m Interested: Actually dating a member of a boyband or other type of touring musician? No, thank you. Having a spouse who travels for work for most of the year sounds terribly lonely. Reading about a character who dates her boyband teenage crush, on the other hand? Sign me up.

 

Book cover for Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. Image on cover shows a train travelling along a train track next to a field of wheat. The image is warped, though, and has an unnatural bend to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Thank you to Living on the Sunny Side for bringing my attention to this title!

Publication Date: April 7 (I am apparently going to be doing nothing but reading on April 7. Ha!)

Why I’m Interested: No offence to anyone who likes this stuff, but I find tradwife content terribly confusing. It seems odd to me to make a living telling other women that they should not have jobs or ambitions outside of the home. By that logic, then, shouldn’t tradwife creators stop making new content and delete all of their old stuff, too? I love the fact that this novel is exploring those contradictions.

Book cover for Canon by Paige Lewis. Image on cover shows three scenes: a whale swimming through the ocean on the top of the cover, a full moon hanging over a mountain range on the right middle side of the cover, and, on the bottom, a two-paned drawing of a warring carrying a spear and shield charging at a woman wearing a t-shirt and black slacks who is standing in front of a large wall that protects the city behind them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Canon by Paige Lewis

Publication Date: May 19

Why I’m Interested: This sounds delightfully campy and silly.

 

Book cover for The Redemption Centre Is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston. Image on cover shows a computer-generated drawing of a little brown and white dog looking up at an ominous old house just after dusk. There is light streaming through one window in the house, and a shadowy figure is standing there looking down at the dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.  The Redemption Centre Is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston

Thank you to Spirit Blog for letting me know about this book.

Publication Date: May 26

Why I’m Interested: Mixing the mystery and science fiction genres together is a good way to get my attention.

 

Given that I have published seasonal TBR posts with as few as two books on them in the past, eight books is an excellent number for me even if it’s still a little less than the recommended amount.

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A Review of The Visitor

 

Book cover for The Visitor by Neil Shooter. Image on cover is a photo taken of a one-story ranch-style house after dusk. You can see the road bend in front of the house, some trees on the left, and the house itself sitting quietly, but all of this is shrouded in the darkness of night that obscures most details about any of them.

Title: The Visitor

Author: Neil Shooter

Publisher:  Self-Published

Publication Date: January 6, 2016

Genres: Science Fiction, LGBTQ+, Historical, Contemporary

Length: 11 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

On an ordinary blustery British night an extraordinary visitor comes, a time traveller, with a paradox. But time is relative.

Content Warning: References to alcoholism and mild homophobia.

Review:

How far would you go to correct the past?

The conversational structure of this short story kept my interest levels high. It takes effort to include necessary details about character and plot development while still making sure both characters are speaking to each other in ways that feel natural. Mr. Shooter did a good job balancing these needs while pushing the storyline forward with every reply. It felt like I truly was listening in on someone else’s conversation.

I had some trouble understanding the significance of the final scene due to how vague it was. While I have a theory about what it probably meant, I wasn’t sure if that was what the author was trying to convey or if I’d misunderstood something along the way. It would have been helpful to have a few more hints about what was happening and if my interpretation of it was the correct one (or one of the correct ones). This is something I’m saying as a reader who normally enjoys

It was also entertaining to see how Dean, the protagonist, explained how time travel works and why he decided to go back so many years. While I can’t share a lot of details about these aspects of the tale for spoiler reasons, they were reasonable and helped to answer several questions I had about how certain details were meant to fit together. It was also fun to get to know Dean a little better as his personality was a little bit of a mystery to me at first. Honestly, I would have made the same choice he did if such things were possible.

This was my first experience with this author’s work, and I will be coming back for more.

The Visitor was thought provoking.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Audiobooks I’ve Enjoyed

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Five hardcover books standing up on a white surface. They are held upright and together in place by a pair of earphones that are wrapped around them in the same way you’d see a person wear earphones. The first few times I tried audiobooks, I was not at all a fan of them because I can read much faster than the average narrator speaks and I’d much rather get to know characters through the written word instead of the spoken one.

My attention span tends to waver fairly quickly if I’m listening to something which is why I also am generally not a fan of podcasts or listening to lengthy speeches of any sort if I’m not physically present in the room at the time the speech is going on.

What shifted my perspective on this topic was when I tried rereading old favourites in audiobook form. This was something I originally did so that I could have something fun to focus on while cleaning or doing chores around the house, and it was key for me to find a way to enjoy this form of entertainment.

These books were amusing rereads in audiobook form for me. Will they also be a good option for you? That’s something each one of you will have to decide for themselves.

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

2. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

3. All seven Chronicles of Narnia books  by C.S. Lewis

4. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

6. All of the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary

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Top Ten Tuesday: Green Book Covers


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone who is celebrating it! I always forgot to wear something green on that day when I was in school and so endured jokes about being pinched all day. (Nobody ever really pinched me, though!)  Did your school have that custom as well?

Here are some books that have green book covers. I’ve only read the first two titles, but the rest sound interesting as well.

Book cover for nne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) by L.M. Montgomery. Image on cover shows Anne wearing her sun hat anad standing in front of Green Gables smiling as she clutches a book. This appears to be a drawing that was used a lot in 1980s covers for this book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) by L.M. Montgomery

 

Book cover for Dark Waters (Small Spaces, #3) by Katherine Arden. Image on cover shows a drawing of a large fish menacingly swimming up to the top of the lake. A small boat is floating on top of the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Dark Waters (Small Spaces, #3) by Katherine Arden

 

Book cover for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Image on cover shows a white woman wearing a glamorous, silky green gown that shows off a little cleavage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

Book cover for The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint. Image on cover shows a drawing of about a dozen cats sitting near a small, pale child who is wearing a gauzy green dress and standing next to a pond in a jungle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint

 

Book cover for The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith. Image on cover is a drawing of an owl flying with wings outstretched through a murky green forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith

 

Book cover for The Bee and the Orange Tree by Melissa Ashley. Image on cover is a drawing of a bee sitting on a small orange tree that is currently only growing a single orange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. The Bee and the Orange Tree by Melissa Ashley

 

Book cover for The River Wife by Jonis Agee. Image on cover shows a white women with auburn hair floating in a river while wearing a gauzy white dress that is falling down her shoulders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. The River Wife by Jonis Agee

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A Review of Amina

Book cover for Amina by P.B. Cannon. Image on cover is a watercolour painting of a woman with long white hair dancing in the forest. She’s wearing a light blue dress. Title: Amina

Author: P.B. Cannon

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: April 2, 2019

Genres: Fantasy

Length: About 26 pages.

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

He awakens with a task to perform. A lilac-hued woman dances in his forest clearing. She is human. He is not. It is… a beginning.

Content Warning: Climate change, slavery, a broken leg, brief references to previous rapes, and brief references to a whipping.

Review:

Hope can thrive in even the ugliest circumstances.

This short story included references to some difficult subject matters like slavery and sexual abuse. I appreciated the way it gave the audience the details about these terrible moments without dwelling on them any longer than necessary. These references were disturbing, of course, but not at all graphic. That’s exactly how I prefer to such things to be addressed, so I must tip my cap to the author for striking a balance between remaining true to the story she wanted to share without going into unnecessary detail.

I would have loved to see more world building in this novel. For example, knowing more about what sort of magical creature Ruzi was would have made it easier for me to imagine him and try to predict what he might do next. The snippets of information about his kind that were provided were fascinating and did provide a basic framework for what he was and wasn’t capable of doing as well as a description of his kind and gentle nature. Had this been included, I would have happily gone with a full five-star rating.

The ending was thoughtful, hopeful, and open to interpretation. It’s interesting for me as a reader to be given so much freedom to decide how I wish to interpret certain aspects of the plot, and I enjoy it when authors trust their audiences to come to our own conclusions about what probably happened next without feeling the need to fill in every crevice for us. That’s the sort of writing style that gently urges me to come back for more in the future.

Amina made me wish for a sequel.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books About My Favourite Topic

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

I’ve written several blog posts about this topic in the past and am trying not to repeat myself too often, so this time I will be focusing on nonfiction books about animals and nature. Those are two things I love to read about.

Yes, I know that I mentioned “A Short History of the World According to Sheep” in a Top Ten Tuesday post last month, but it belongs to this theme as well. 

These were all solid reads that I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys books on these topics.

Book cover for Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton. Image on cover is a sketch of a young hare whose ears are pointed up and who is looking around at her surroundings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

 

Book cover for A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard. Image on cover is a photo of a shepherd herding his sheep while they stand on a mountain. There are much larger, snowier mountains in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard

 

Book cover for The Book of the Earthworm by Sally Coulthard. Image on cover is a drawing of large earthworms digging through the soil. Above the soil there is a large tree whose branches are hanging heavy over the land. In the distance there is a faraway forest and a blue sky dotted with white clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. The Book of the Earthworm by Sally Coulthard

 

Book cover for Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods by Danna Staaf. Image on cover is a drawing of various cephalopods, including squid and octupi, swimming next to each other in a light blue sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods by Danna Staaf

 

Book cover for Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets. Image on cover is a drawing of a pine forest that has a dirt path running through it. Extra sunlight is shining down onto the path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets

 

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